00:01We heard from the Prime Minister a little earlier today during a site visit at Purdemans
00:06facilities that you can see behind me.
00:08It's there that the company is building what's going to be Australia's largest urea plant
00:13here on the Burrut Peninsula in Western Australia's North West and it was during that site visit
00:17and at a press conference that the PM outlined his plans for a $4 million pre-feasibility
00:23study that will be funded by the federal government and the WA government and they'll be looking
00:27into what it will take to build Australia's third oil refinery and the first built here
00:32since the 1960s.
00:34Today's announcement comes after a long-running campaign by WA Premier Roger Cook, he's been
00:40calling for a refinery to be built in WA to secure the state's fuel supplies with its
00:45last refinery shuttered at Kwinana by BP in 2021.
00:49Premier Roger Cook says the infrastructure is particularly well suited for WA given the
00:54scale of industry already underway and much of which is reliant on the steady flow of
00:59fuel.
01:00It's understood that the state government and Purdeman are eyeing locations in WA's Midwest
01:04and Southwest, specifically strategic industrial areas near the city of Geraldton, Perth, Bunbury
01:12and Colley.
01:13The PM says a new refinery is important to secure Australia's oil stores domestically
01:17with global supply lines continually disrupted by the war in the Middle East.
01:22He confirmed nevertheless that the fuel excise will end this Sunday despite Australians around
01:28the country still facing price pressure at the fuel bowser.
01:32We have halved the cut in the fuel excise.
01:39We've done that in partnership with state and territory governments.
01:44We also have looked at other ways in which we can provide cost of living relief.
01:50We made that announcement some time ago that it would go step down from the 32 cents down
01:58to 16 if you combine the Commonwealth and state relief which is there.
02:03So as you heard there the fuel excise will end on Sunday but the federal government will
02:10no doubt be hoping that these plans will help secure Australia's fuel supply long term.
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